Fliers that read “casa abierta” — a literal translation of “open house” — won’t work because that translates to “vacant home” in Spanish, said the Rev. Joe Corpora, director of university-school partnership for University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education.
Corpora is working with the Joliet Diocese to increase Hispanic student enrollment in Catholic schools. He spoke to principals, pastors and staff Tuesday and Wednesday at the Charles Borromeo Pastoral Center in Romeoville.
“Our schools are not culturally responsive. For the most part, our schools look like they did 35 years ago when Moira Kelly was every girl in kindergarten,” he said, using an example of an Irish name. “Now, Moira Kelly doesn’t live here anymore. Maria Gomez does and we really haven’t change how the school feels and acts like.”
Notre Dame has launched a campaign to double the percentage of Latino children enrolled in Catholic schools — from 3 percent to 6 percent — in the next 10 years, raising the number of Latino children enrolled in Catholic schools from 290,000 to 1 million by 2020.
Of 170 Catholic school systems in the U.S., the Joliet Diocese is the 21st largest, but less than 5 percent of the diocese’s 22,471 students are Hispanic.. The diocese is restructuring its oldest Catholic school so it remains open next school year, but only for students in pre-kindergarten through third grade. St. Patrick School in Joliet needs 200 students to survive but only has 126 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, said the Rev. John Belmonte, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Joliet.
That shortage prompted the restructuring of St. Pat’s as a multicultural school that is recruiting bilingual staff and Hispanic students for next school year.
Bishop J. Peter Sartain hired the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education to provide workshops and study initiatives that would better serve the Latino community here. Sartain also hired the Rev. Jeremiah Lynch to become the director of community outreach for catholic schools. Lynch has been developing relationships with the pastors in the diocese, the Latino community and the schools and has created a list of 100 Latinos who are potential Catholic school students. READ MORE
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